


Stay

by detectivetinsley



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol, M/M, Mutual Pining, Past Shane Madej/Sara Rubin, Shane Madej In Love, Shane Madej Loves Ryan Bergara, Shane is lonely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 03:43:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14662599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivetinsley/pseuds/detectivetinsley
Summary: Shane is lonely. He just wants someone to stay.





	Stay

Shane was allowed to have one good night, wasn’t he? It was past 5 o’clock and he’d just gotten out of work. He barely walked through the door to his apartment, taking in the silence and the darkness, and decided to _hell with this_. After Sara left, his apartment felt too cold – _too empty_ and he’d do anything to get away from it. 

He sent a text to Ryan, asking him if he wouldn’t mind coming by the bar and hanging out for a while. He doesn’t get a reply right away and you know, that’s just fine – if Ryan didn’t show up, that wasn’t going to deter him any. After all, Ryan spends a good 85% of his time with Shane; it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he didn’t come, though he wouldn't lie if he'd be disappointed. 

Shane headed down to the bar that was closest to his apartment, just for walking privileges. He took his time getting settled, ordered himself a margarita (he’s feeling _fancy_ ) and a whole fucking pizza to go with it. His phone was abandoned in the pocket of his jeans, seamlessly forgotten. If it went off, he was unaware. 

It didn’t take him long to finish his first drink and ordered himself another one. 

It was Friday night and he didn’t have to work in the morning. Excuse him if he decided to let loose just a little bit. That’s what Friday nights were for, right? To let loose and have fun? Usually his Friday nights were accompanied with Sara and co, but… clearly that wasn’t the case. He could handle a night alone. He wasn’t _that_ desperate. 

He’s nursing on his drink when a pretty girl with dark hair appears at his side. He can’t really help noticing her – he’s _single_ , he’s on his way to being drunk, and he’s honestly just looking to have some fun. There’s no harm in that, right?

So, what does Shane do?

He talks to her, of course. 

(Okay, so maybe he’s a _little_ desperate. He doesn’t necessarily want to get into her pants, but having some form of human interaction with someone who may be interested is all he’s really look for at this point. He’s lonely, so sue him.)

She flashes a bright white smile at him and they easily get into a lovely conversation – one he probably should be paying attention to, but ah, _fuck it_. He finishes his drink quickly and orders #3. He’s definitely going to be drunk soon, but that’s fine, _everything is fine_.

When he makes her laugh, he cringes. 

Now, Shane usually isn’t one to judge people (that’s not true, he judges people all the time) but when her laugh rang through his ears, it screamed _‘Fran Fine!’_ and he just couldn’t handle it. He was just about to excuse himself, to run away from this horrendous situation, when a young man appears at the bar, and he looks _pissed_. It does not take Shane long to realize why, considering he slinks an arm around the young woman’s waist and ah – _shit_. _Of course_ she has a boyfriend. That would just be Shane’s fucking luck, wouldn’t it? 

Shane looks for an escape route. He needed out and he needed out now. Judging by the sudden tension in the air, Shane knows that the longer he stays, the higher chance he has to getting a fucking punch in the face. 

(The Universe just _loves_ Shane Madej, doesn’t it? Fucking bastard.)

“Hey, babe,” the man’s voice is clipped, cold, and he’s shooting daggers at Shane as he leans towards the young woman – what was her name, anyways? Lucy? Linda? Laura? He doesn’t remember and he should feel bad for that but… _yet_. “Who are you talking to?”

Yeah, Shane was fucked. He was so fucked it wasn’t even funny. _God_ , if Ryan was here, he’d be able to save him from the inevitable. 

He opens his mouth and closes it, eyes on Lara (Lara! That’s it!) as she exchanges glances between them. She snorts out a laugh and Shane cringes all over again. “Don’t get all jealous on me, Rodney.” _Rodney? Is she for real? Rodney!?_ “Shane was just bein’ a good sport.”

 _Oh, god. No, that’s worse. A good sport? Who says that!?_

Rodney turns to Shane just then, his body edged between Shane and Lara and there’s hostility brewing in the midst. You could probably cut the tension with a knife and it would barely leave a fucking scratch. _Jesus_ , Shane wasn’t nearly drunk enough for this. 

He’s trying to wrack his brain for some sort of excuse, to flee the scene, when he’s saved by a literal angel in disguise.

“Shane!” 

Shane’s head snaps up and here comes good old Ryan Bergara in all his glory. He’s approaching the bar and it takes him all of .5 seconds to realize what’s happening before making an abrupt decision.

He plants himself right on Shane’s lap.

“Sorry I’m late, baby, work got out a little later than I expected.”

This throws Shane off a tad and he looks a bit startled at first. However, when he catches Ryan’s eye, he suddenly understands what he was doing.

 _Oh, Ryan Bergara, you are a genius._ Shane could kiss him! He really could!

(Maybe he’s more drunk than he thought.)

Slowly, Shane responded by wrapping his arms around Ryan a little awkwardly. “Glad you could make it,” Shane purred as he watched Ryan with wide eyes. He’s suddenly glad Ryan is shielding him from the view of Lara and her crazy boyfriend – he probably looked goddamn spooked. 

They’re staring at each other – probably realizing the awkwardness of the situation, but too stubborn to do anything about it. The way Ryan was looking at him… Shane took it as a challenge. He placed his chin on Ryan’s shoulder, batting his eyelashes at him, and actually winks. It would give off a more authentic vibe anyways, so it works.

Suddenly, a voice pipes in.

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend!” It’s Lara. _Of course_. 

Ryan raised an eyebrow at Shane at that, a grin slowly pulling at the corners of his lips. He places a small kiss to Shane’s cheek and if it leaves Shane a little winded, he’d never admit to it. 

Shane nudged Ryan, hands gripping tighter around him causing the shorter male to flush deeply (oh this was going to be _so much_ fun). When Ryan finally got the idea, he moved his head just enough for Shane to speak without sounding muffled. “You never asked.”

Now that Ryan was no longer facing Shane and his body was directed towards Rodney and Lara, Shane could finally breathe. He was also able to get a good look of Rodney and Lara without fearing for his fucking life.

Rodney looks… well, for the lack of a better word, embarrassed. His face is red and he’s avoiding looking at Shane now. He probably feels goddamn foolish and it makes Shane grin in victory. _Yeah, that’s what I thought, you fucking dick_.

Of course, Shane doesn’t really blame Rodney for his reaction – had he not shown up, he’s pretty certain Lara would have happily taken him home if he would have let her. He snorts at the thought. 

“Lara, come on, I found us a table.” Rodney is still avoiding eye contact and turns to face his girlfriend. 

She says something quietly to him, but Shane isn’t paying much attention at that point. He doesn’t even notice them leave – or maybe he does and he just doesn’t care. In fact, he seems pretty goddamn transfixed in the smell of Ryan’s cologne. He hadn’t noticed it earlier so… perhaps Ryan had put it on before coming down to the bar? But then, that wouldn’t make much sense because it was just Ryan and Shane – he wasn’t here to impress anyone. _Unless_ …

Shane destroys that thought quickly and clears his throat, patting Ryan on the thigh.

Ryan laughs quietly and _Jesus_ , Shane can feel it – it isn’t the worst feeling in the world, but with the amount of alcohol he’s attempting to consume, it may be proven to be a little more awkward than either of them intends it to be. 

“Jesus, Shane.” Shane blinks and quirks an eyebrow at him. Ryan doesn’t seem to plan on moving any time soon. Instead, Ryan fucking turns his entire body towards Shane – he’s basically straddling Shane now (this is way worse than when he first plopped down on him) and _holy shit_ , either Ryan is really invested in this ploy or he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing; Shane would hope it’s the latter. 

“You’re lucky I showed up in time, moron. That guy looked ready to hit you in the fucking face.”

Shane put up his hands in surrender, finally releasing his hold on Ryan.

“Look, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend! She didn’t say anything!” If his voice has a hint of a whine in it, Ryan doesn’t comment.

“Whatever, but now everyone thinks we’re dating so, good luck taking anyone else home.” 

_Goddammit, Ryan_.

Now that he mentions it, there are a few people staring at them – or _a lot_ of people staring at them. Jesus, they did make a scene, didn’t they? 

Shane wheezes at Ryan who finally takes notice of their current situation. He slowly removes himself from Shane’s lap with that blush still printed on his cheeks. Shane can’t help but find it absolutely fucking _endearing_. He’s consumed too much alcohol to care about his train of thought at this point. 

Meanwhile, Ryan, who is still looking at Shane with a questionable look on his face, clears his throat and sits down on the stool that Lara had recently vacated. Once Ryan is situated comfortably, Shane finally replies – much to his own dismay, of course. 

“I don’t think that would be too bad.”

Ryan looks a bit shocked at the revelation, but he doesn’t respond. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights and then, then when that expression is cleared, he looks as if he’s put the final piece together and can now solve time’s oldest mystery. 

They quickly fall into a peculiar silence as Shane takes a drink of his third margarita. It isn’t necessarily an awkward bout of silence… just peculiar. 

Ryan glances at Shane, almost looking as though he wanted to say something, before shaking his head and turns to the bar to order his own drink. 

Shane just watches him, mulling over the whole situation in his head.

He watches Ryan as he finally gets his drink. He watches as he takes a drink, watching his Adam’s apple bob with each swallow, and watches as Ryan turns to him with a raised eyebrow. He probably thinks Shane is just drunk, so of course, Shane takes another drink, though he’s still fucking staring and Ryan is now staring back at him, and okay, _now_ it’s awkward. 

Shane clears his throat and says, “So… does that mean I get to take you home… _baby_?” because clearly, Shane doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up. 

He watches Ryan’s reaction and it’s probably the highlight of his fucking night.

Ryan first stares at him with an open mouth, then closes it. His face is flushed and he’s laughing in this disbelieving kind of way that’s essentially telling Shane to fuck off. 

Scratch probably, it _is_ the highlight of his fucking night.

“Shane,” Ryan wheezes and his laughing becoming infectious and Shane’s suddenly laughing, too. 

Once they settle down, grins plastered on both of their lips, Ryan continues.

“Don’t fucking call me baby.”

Shane smirks and leans over the stool, invading Ryan’s personal space and _oh_ , would you look at that? Ryan’s still blushing! “But you have no problem with me taking you home?” 

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and they both absolutely fucking lose it. 

Ryan responds by snagging a piece of pepperoni off Shane’s plate and shoves it in his mouth. Shane finishes his third drink and begins on a fourth, finally feeling more of the affects of alcohol kicking in. If he flirts with Ryan, Ryan doesn’t seem all that bothered.

In fact, Ryan plays along with that same look on his face – the one look that tells Shane that he knows all the secrets he’s ever possessed. Which, _woah_ , that’s too fucking wild to think of when he’s getting more and more drunk as the night progresses. So, Shane does what he always does: he locks it up in the back of his mind, in a secret compartment to be dealt with another day.

They finish off the pizza and order more drinks. They eat more food and laugh too loud. Even Shane realizes it’s the most he’s laughed in months and it makes his heart swell with an unfamiliar feeling – one he’s done his best to avoid as much as possible. However, with the amount of alcohol in his system, it appears that he can no longer ignore it. So, perhaps that secret compartment might just come out anyways.

“Shane,” Ryan’s laughing quietly, hand now placed on Shane’s shoulder. _He’s so warm_ , Shane notes, leaning into him absently. “You’re fucking wasted, dude. We should call it a night.”

So, they do, with only _mild_ complaining on Shane’s part.

They leave a nice tip and as they’re leaving the bar, Shane notices Rodney and Lara and waves at them with a stupid grin on his face. Lara waves back and Rodney still won’t look at him. It makes him laugh harder – even as Ryan is pulling him out of the bar and onto the street.

The cool air hits him in the face and he breathes it in like someone who has been under water for way longer than they should be and just hit the surface. It was like he could breathe for the first time in his life.

He turns to Ryan and smiles. He doesn’t know how he looks, but however he looks, Ryan seems to be caught off guard. Or maybe he’s just caught off guard because Shane’s stepping into his personal space again. Or maybe he’s just caught off guard because Shane’s hands are now placed firmly around his neck.

Shane wonders briefly if Ryan thinks he’s going to kill him.

Which that thought makes him laugh and he drops his hands, stumbling on the sidewalk as he does. 

“Ryan!” He wheezes. “You — _You_ …” Whatever Shane had intended to say is lost on him. 

Ryan seems to have recovered in that amount of time and laughs as he grabs Shane by the arm, pulling him along. “Come on, Big Guy. We need to take you home.”

They finally do manage to get back to Shane’s apartment, though with some difficulty as Shane kept getting distracted on the way. They finally get to his door and somehow – Shane wasn’t paying attention, apparently – Ryan had gotten a hold of Shane’s keys and was letting them into the apartment. He helps Shane in and leads him back to his bedroom. He helps him with his shoes before nudging him into the bed.

Just when Ryan thinks Shane is asleep and starts to leave, Shane leans forward and grabs his wrist. It surprises Ryan – despite the fact Shane’s eyes are closed, he can hear him gasp quietly.

“Stay, Ry,” he murmurs sleepily, burrowing his face into the pillow. 

“Shane—”

“ _Please_.” 

And Ryan does. 

He takes his shoes off and crawls into bed with him. Just as Shane is about to pass out, he feels strong arms wrap around him uncertainly and smiles. He may not be dealing with things the way he should, but this is good enough for now. 

Shane falls asleep to the sound of Ryan’s breathing, his heart fluttering in his chest in an unusual way. Shane may not understand what it means fully (perhaps he'll understand more when he's sober), but he doesn’t care, because Ryan is _there_. 

He’s always going to be there --- he's always going to stay.

Yeah, this is definitely good enough for now.


End file.
